Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
- Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, cooperatives, budgets/cost and returns, marketing management, market study
- Sustainable Communities: new business opportunities, partnerships, public participation, sustainability measures
Proposal summary:
Participants in this project formed the Bay Area Agricultural Cooperative to capitalize on the newly restored Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, operated by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture at the historic Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street in downtown San Francisco. The cooperative, formed in response to California’s direct marketing laws, will hire workers to help with market sales, releasing the farmers to raise their crops. Members will pool resources to transport farm produce and, if economically feasible, develop dry and refrigerated overnight storage facilities. The market will enable them to sell more produce directly to consumers, more lucrative than selling wholesale, which rarely covers production costs. Participants also plan to expand their overall customer base in downtown San Francisco and nearby neighborhoods by developing a community supported agriculture entity, patterned after the Pikes Place CSA in Seattle.